Sourdough Update

In the previous post I made about sourdough, I had pretty much given up on it. But somehow I managed to finally get my starter to start. And I have since reactivated it a few times. I refuse to keep feeding it daily, as I'm not going to make bread, pancakes, crackers or what have you on a daily basis. So, I keep it in the fridge and reactivate (take it out of the fridge and feed it until it becomes active and useful again) it when I want to make something with it. 

Because I used the sourdough instructions from the King Arthur Baking website, I have been using their recipes for various sourdough breads, only making them whole grain. One of my favourites is the hamburger bun recipe: no more scouring the grocery store shelves for whole grain and healthy burger buns. I can just make my own. 

Another favourite is the English muffin recipe. Unfortunately, I have yet to master the art of unformity in size. 😁 I suppose rolling the dough out and using a cutter insted of the alternate of just dividing the dough would probably help. I also haven't managed to achieve the typical bubbly texture, the texture of mine being more like regular bread. I'll have to work on that. 

The pancakes are a hit, but I have to plan ahead to remember to start the sponge the night before. And they use up some of the still abundant supply of discard in my fridge. 

I have also tried other "bread-speriments" with varying degrees of success. On the top left is the Whole Wheat and Rye Sourdough Bread. The recipe called for caraway seeds, anise seeds and cardamom. I don't like either of those seeds and cardamom just seemed like a weird idea to me, so I left all three out. I put this one directly into the freezer and I assume I have since eaten it, unless it has disappeared into the abyss (I really need to clean my freezers out...). The round loaf is Jeffrey's Sourdough Rye Bread, in which I again skipped the caraway seeds, and on the right is Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Unfortunately, these last 2 needed to go into the oven at the same time, but at different temperatures, so I opted to use the Breville Smart Oven for the rye bread.

However, I neglected to account for the convection function on the oven and that is likely why the bread had such a thick, tough crust. Otherwise, it had a nice texture and flavour. After taste-testing, this rye bread, too, went into the freezer, never to be seen or heard from again.
As for the raisin bread, I didn't feel that there were enough raisins and I felt that they should have been mixed in with the dough, rather than applied to the flattened dough and rolled up. 

It had a tendency to separate where the filling is, which may be fine for a cinnamon roll, but not really workable for a loaf of bread, especially not if you want to put it into a toaster. Otherwise, the flavour was very good and the texture of the bread was fine.
I think the recipe for Sourdough Graham Crackers came up in my Facebook feed and I decided to give them a try, especially since they would use up more of my discard. I also repeated the Sourdough Crackers recipe. Neither of these turned out very well. Both of them were hard, not flaky like a cracker should be. And a lot of the graham crackers ended up scorched. Although the taste was still good and my grandson enjoyed them. The sourdough crackers were too sour and too salty. I think I might have been in too big of a hurry, so was too focused on finishing, not quality? And my supply of discard might be getting too sour? Is that a possibility? And I don't think I need to salt the tops of the crackers. 

I tried the Buttery Sourdough Biscuits, which tasted good, but were too crumbly and too high in fat. 

Sourdough crumpets don't work very well in the crumpet rings, and they scorch too easily if you're not careful. I haven't given up on these yet, though.

Sourdough pizza crust worked well fresh, but was a dud if the dough was frozen for future use. At least that was my experience - kind of like trying to make pizza crust out of playdough. Yuk!

I think this must be the Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread, which I don't remember anything about. But it looks good. I believe I also tried the Rustic Sourdough Bread, but I have no real memories of it either. I definitely need to try to blog about things closer to when they actually occurred. But the one I do remember trying was the Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread. Big disappointment! I have been trying various pumpernickel and black bread recipes over the years, trying to find one that actually replicates the taste of storebought pumpernickel. Because that is one store-bought bread that I actually enjoy. But none of them come anywhere close, this one included. Most of them just having the overwhelming flavour of molasses. And the store-bought stuff doesn't. I don't know what the secret is, but this recipe is not it. 
Thinking about why I don't use sourdough more often: 

• Many of the recipes are for only 1 loaf. If I'm going to make bread, other than specialty breads, why would I heat up the oven for only one loaf? I haven't figured out how to triple or quadruple a sourdough bread recipe. Or if it works best one loaf at a time. 
• Many of the recipes also call for dry yeast, so why don't I just use all dry yeast and forgot the hassle of sourdough? It seems inauthentic, like a cheater way of making sourdough.
• There are also many recipes where you make enough starter for that one recipe, which negates the need to maintain a starter (although they often use dry yeast as well).
• Many recipes also suggest or require the use of specialty equipment, like a Dutch Oven, which can be quite expensive.    
• It's a hassle. When I want to use it, I have to take it out of the fridge and reactivate it by feeding it and then having to figure out what to do with the discard. And the actual bread making process is generally more time consuming as well. 

I don't plan on throwing out my sourdough starter as I have found a few recipes that I like, and until I can find a good replacement for them, I will continue. Meanwhile, I do want to try the Naturally Leavened Sourdough Bread recipe, which doesn't require the use of additional dry yeast. And I still need to get my discard situation under control. I can put my fridge space to better use.